ABOUT HCGAP

The Houston County Government Accountability Project (HCGAP) evolved from the efforts to stop frac sand mining in Houston County and southeastern Minnesota. The widely supported efforts by local citizens to prevent the environmental rape and economic exploitation of our area by the mining industry have been repeatedly stymied and derailed by actions and in some cases, the intentional inactions of people in Houston County government.

We don’t hesitate to draw conclusions and point out what the information we present says about the decisions being made and the actions being taken by people in local government. For example, the Houston County Commissioners and most members of the Planning Commission are inexplicably submissive and loyal to the mining interests in our county. Public awareness and knowledge of how detrimental this is can drive the demand for serving the public interest rather than the special interests of those who will benefit personally at the expense of most Houston County residents.

This Project is bringing to the public’s attention the bad decision making, the incompetence and, in some circumstances, the corruption of some of the people connected with Houston County Government. We gather information from a wide variety of sources, most of which are publicly available, and seek to make that information readily and easily available to you and other members of the public. We strive to accurately and fairly present this information. We see this as filling a huge void in coverage of local government by the conventional media in our area.

Our goal is to CHANGE and IMPROVE local government by mobilizing public outrage, anger and activism.

Good government helps all of us. Bad government adversely affects all of us. Sometimes it’s hard to make judgments about whether government is good or bad unless you have a good understanding about what government is actually doing. We hope that the information provided and the critical thinking and analysis from the Houston County Government Accountability Project will make it possible for you to have a much better perspective on what your government doing.It doesn’t have to be this way.